


No Rose, lions probably didn't survive the end of the world

by nullsession



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Dave thinks about avocado toast, Gen, Kanaya and Karkat are vegan, Rose likes cats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-27 16:08:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14429250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nullsession/pseuds/nullsession
Summary: Karkat and Kanaya do not take well to the thought of zoos.





	No Rose, lions probably didn't survive the end of the world

**Author's Note:**

> Self-indulgent. Takes place sometime on the meteor.

“I haven’t seen one since I went to the zoo back home.” The comment itself was harmless. 

Dave and Rose had been talking about the possibility of lions having survived the end of the world. Dave, too, hadn’t seen a lion since he went on a school trip to his own local zoo. It just spoke to Dave’s own luck that the comment was said around probably the only two trolls that were animal loving vegans.

“What the fuck is a zoo?” Karkat asked with that look of annoyance he got when they spoke about Earth things.

“You don't have zoos?” Dave asked. 

“We do not,” Kanaya answered for him. “Can you enlighten us?” Rose, herself, didn’t seem so surprised that the trolls wouldn’t have zoos and proceeded to explain to them both what one was. She even spoke about the time where she had gotten separated from her mother on an outing to said zoo and how the freedom she had tasted at the young age of 6 was the best she’d ever had. The trolls of course, ignored this in favor of their own indignation.

“So you capture them and... put them on display?” Kanaya asked with uncertainty, almost as if she hoped she heard wrong.

“Well, yeah.”

“Why?” The question was asked with more anguish than was probably necessary if you asked Dave. Karkat would probably yell about how no one had asked Dave but that was beside the point.

“Look, I’m not saying it’s right but lots of animals can only be seen in the wild. This way people are able to see them in the cities,” Dave added.

Kanaya had a pinched look on her face and Karkat’s own expression was of disgust for probably the whole human race, which of course meant Rose and Dave because they were the only humans there.

“So you give them currency in exchange for interaction with the caged beast?” Kanaya asked.

“Oh no,” Dave waved his hand. “We don’t interact with them, we just sorta look at them from behind a glass wall or a fence, depending on what it is.”

“I knew our society was way better than humans could even begin to conceive or hope to compare to but for humans to have something like that, is fucked up for human standards,” Karkat finally commented. 

“Are you really saying you don’t have anything that is similar to this on your planet?” Rose asked with genuine curiosity.

“Why the fuck would we lock up our lusus, or other potential lusii, only to press our ugly faces against a glass cage and gawk at them?” Karkat insulted and Rose rolled her eyes. They were taking zoos way too seriously.

“It is a bit barbaric,” Kanaya added. “How long do they stay there? It can’t be good for them to be away from home for too long.”

“Well fuck, you’re not gonna like the answer to that,” Dave stated and Rose shoved him in the shoulder.

“They don’t exactly have a home,” Rose began glaring at Dave as he crossed his arms and leant back, waiting to see how they reacted to this news. “Most of them were bred in captivity and those that weren’t stay there… well, until they die anyways.”

Kanaya had a look of horror on her face that even the game hadn’t been able to bring out in her. “You snatch them from their homes and lock them up? For what purpose, entertainment?”

“Lots of them have nice fur and pretty feathers,” Dave added unhelpfully.

“In a sense, yes, but also for education,” Rose wasn’t even trying to defend zoos but she still felt the need to advocate for both sides. It wasn’t like she was much of a animal rights activist, but then again neither was Dave. Dave didn’t really care much for animals or pets. The closest thing to a pet he’d ever had growing up was lil’ cal and his Bro liked to call him more of a co-parent than anything like a pet. 

“I don’t have the words for how much this news disturbs me,” Kanaya said as she folded her hands on her lap, fidgeting with her cuticles.

“Animals aren’t really like they are on your planet,” Rose backtracked.

“Oh,” Karkat added. “So they don’t have the emotional capabilities to create bonds or feel anguish and pain?” 

“Holy shit Karkat,” Dave said when Rose looked at him in panic. “I know trolls eat meat, get off your planetary high horse.”

“I don’t eat meat and neither does Karkat.” Dave was struck with the knowledge that if they’d been human, Kanaya and Karkat would be eating avocado toast and drinking green juice as they protested against the consumption of animals outside of a Chick-fil-A. “We were taught to only fight beasts when attacked and even then, all meat was meant for the survival and nourishment of our Lusus.” 

“That’s not what I meant,” Rose tried to amend but Dave shook his head.

“Let them have this one, zoos are fucked up.”

“I know that,” Rose glared at him. “But I also know that lots of zoos and man made habitats helped combat extinction in lots of species.”

“Lots of the species that we saved were ones that we hunted to the brink of extinction in the first place,” Dave said and Rose gave a groan of frustration. 

“Humans are trash,” Karkat said and Dave could (avocado) toast to that. 

“Just wait until you hear about aquariums.”

Rose proceeded to shove a pillow in his face as Kanaya’s look of horror doubled at what she assumed an aquarium was.

“Is anything safe from Humans?”

“Nope,” Dave said as he turned his head so Rose was shoving it against his cheek instead of his mouth. “Not even other humans.”

“I know I always fucking say I’m glad my own planet was destroyed but I gotta say, I’m glad yours was too.”

Dave could mostly agree with that. Rose stopped pressing the pillow against his face and instead focused her efforts on trying to get the look of distraught off of Kanaya’s face. It took longer than the conversation lasted. 

When the trolls had calmed down enough to go do their own things, Rose turned to Dave asked, “So do you think lions survived the end of the world?”

Dave sighed. Today felt like a very long day.

**Author's Note:**

> I like thinking about and writing random conversations I imagine these kids could have had :-)


End file.
